Another 100 Items

I wish I had a picture of the huge bag of stuff that is in the trunk of my car!    I have cleaned my closet (twice), I am almost done cleaning my office and I haven't even started my garage!  I am still giving items away or pitching them.

And it feels good.... purge purge purge.

Somehow when you are in a time of emotional chaos, cleaning makes you feel a little bit more in control.

In the bag:
old knives
blank journals I never used (x2)
an old dvd player
a too small yoga top
a too big shirt with the tags still on
a back up battery pack that may or may not work
10 pairs of pants that don't fit any more
a huge bag of old papers
outdated candle holders
too big sweaters
shoes
more frames
and so much more!


And tons more.

It never ceases to amaze me just exactly how fast crap accumulates.  In my case I think a huge part of the problem is that my house (being that it was built in 1942) has a pathetic amount of storage.  The closets (all three of them) are very tiny, barely accessible and not designed for the modern girl's shoe collection.  Or her really big shopping habit!

So as I have been cleaning I have been adding storage.  Hello Ikea!  Lots of book cases and some drawers and it has been fantastic!

I'll be back soon and this time with pictures!  I wish I had thought to take a before picture of my office....  but I didn't so I will take an after!

Rachel

Ack! What Happened?

Ok, I have been a very errant blogger! I got busy! crazy busy! So I owe 63 items to this list!

Yikes I really did get off track!  I've actually been more focused on losing other things.

Luckily, I've been keeping a bucket full of things to give away I just need to get pictures taken and get them posted!

Stay tuned, it's coming!

Rachel

Items 74-78: Junk Mail Junk Mail Junk Mail

This is going to be a picture deprived post - but I really wanted to catch up! next week is going to be super busy and I will be out of town for a bit but then the week after is spring break and I anticipate MAJOR spring cleaning! My garage is going to SPARKLE!  And I plan to purge like a champion.  There's a lot going on in my life right now - lots of changes, lots of challenges.  I guess this is what happens in life, right? Wouldn't want to get bored!

So today, I'm getting rid of old magazines (piles of them!), random knick knacks and trash that has just been lying about my house.  It is amazing just how much space these little pieces of paper take up! I've put a trash can by my front door to get rid of all of the junk mail and flyers I get and I empty that thing twice a week if not more.  I really wish there was a way to make it stop!!!!

At least I can get rid of them from my house...

Good riddance junk mail- you have taken up too much of my life already!

Rachel xoxo

Items 65-73: Spring Cleaning!

Clear the clutter! Man how many times have I heard that from my yoga teacher?  It's amazing how much clutter we have - physically, emotionally and spiritually.  It just accumulates.  This weekend I started working on cleaning out my office.  It sort of became the repository for all of the crap I cleaned out of my living room and it's been bugging me for weeks.  There's nothing like a good break up to make you want to clean! My house is almost spotless.  The windows are clean (inside and out!), things are alphabetized and colorized and  sorted.  And the crap keeps getting pitched.  It's liberating.   It helps you deal with emotions.  It just soothes the soul.  And the end product? A pretty house. A pretty organized house.  Next up, I'm going to start painting things.  Break-ups suck.  Got anything you want me to paint?

So the collection of stuff below is random.  Makeup brushes (who knew I had so many!), books (ok, we all knew I had too many), wallets, plates, pillow cases.  I actually really like the pillow cases! However, I have NO desire to sit around ironing the first one until it looks like the second one.  Someone might do it.  Actually, on second thought, I might actually cover some of the cushions I have and finally bring them to school for my students to use.  

Saying goodbye to stuff has become a very liberating process.  It's getting harder to find things.  But I'm committed to seeing this project through.

Sigh. That's a first.

Rachel

Items 64 and 65: Various Crap

This doesn't even merit a post.  It's crap. It's been hanging out in my house for too long. Hasta luego crap!

Rachel xoxo

Item 63: More Old Makeup Brushes

I don't really need to say much about these - the bristles are falling out.  They were sitting in a box in my attic for a reason - they suck.

Sayonara, crappy brushes!

Items 57-62: Attic Treasures Continued

I worry that I am going to run out of stuff to get rid of. Ha! I have plenty to get rid of and I haven't even begun to tackle my office yet!  I have stuff - lots of it.  Some of it I have noooooooooooooooooooo idea why I have kept it for so long.  My living room redo has really encouraged me to keep moving in the minimalist direction (not that my wall of books is minimalist in any way - but it certainly is an improvement on my old chaotic living room!).  I still have a lot of stuff to say goodbye to.  Sigh. It's never easy - especially when you have a sentimental streak a mile wide.  

Usually an episode of Hoarders helps me get rid of stuff.  An hour of watching those people try to navigate through their rat feces infested houses and I'm ready to purge like there is no tomorrow!  I have always had too much stuff.  It seems to go hand in hand with so many other areas in my life.  Why? I don't know.

It's time to let it go.

I'm done having my past dictate my future.

So welcome March - and goodbye crap! xoxo Rachel

Item 56: Allo, Allo! (Rachel)

Two words: CELL PHONE.

I haven't had a phone in more than four years.  If I can live without it for that long, I suppose it means I can live without it period.

Buh-buh super fancy phone! I'll miss you? Um, okay, I made that part up!

If only you had GPS and Words with Friends.........

Item 55: Smelly Awful Socks! (Rachel)

I hate this style of socks.

Hate them.

With a passion.

They give me blisters when I run.  They don't fit well.  They are grungy and awful and garbage.

Sayonara ugly socks.  You served your purpose (sort of...) and now it is time to take up space in a land fill.

Good thing you are cotton because according to the internetz it's only going to take you 1-5 months to biodegrade.

Happy biodegrading!

xoxo,
Rachel

Item 54: A Foot Massager (Rachel)

Sooooooooooo, I don't even know when or where I bought this.  I don't know how it came into my life.  But it was hanging on the wall in my garage! I've never used it.  I just hung it up and totally forgot it was there.  Seems like that has happened with a lot of things - just showing up unannounced in my life and hanging around taking up space.  So many things...

Good thing I started this blog.

Bye foot massager! Hope you find a good home where you get used regularly!

xoxo,
Rachel

Item 53: Math Text Books From Who Knows Where! (Rachel)

Ok, so I do teach these things.  But I don't know where either of these books came from! They were in my dusty awful attic though and let me just say, ADIOS! You take up space that I don't have to give! I am not sure how you came to be in my life, but I do know that I reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllly don't need you.  Find your way into someone's life that needs you.

xoxo,
Rachel

Item 52: A Hand-me-Down Tank (Rachel)

Call me a snob or a freak but I have never been a fan of hand me down clothes - don't ask why, I just don't know.  I never wear them!  This tank was given to me by a friend years ago and it has spent the last few years up in my dusty attic.  Time for it to find a new home with someone who appreciates it I think!  I am very grateful that my friends love to share and I am disappointed in myself for not passing it on long before this!  

Tank top, not dog.  

Items 47-51: Attic Treasures Galore! (Rachel)

Today I ventured up to the 'attic' of my tiny little bungalow and braved the nails and shingle splinters to come up with some treasures to give away.  There's a lot up there, mostly papers and junk that honestly should be pitched but that will have to wait until spring break!  It's amazing how space gets filled up so quickly with crap you don't really even want or need.  It can be overwhelming to go through it all but honestly, at this point in my life, what else do I have to do? So here are items 47-51:

Cushions I bought from the thrift store 6 years ago, tags are still on them.  Dog not included....

A very well worn bathing suit.

A mini skirt I've never worn.

A scale that isn't so accurate.

Luggage that has seen better days.

This project has been amazing - it has given me perspective on what is important in life, it has made me dig up and dust off things I had forgotten I owned.  And it has made me really look at what I need and don't need.  I can already tell that it's going to get really hard to give things away toward the end of the year.  It's hard now - particularly when it's a sentimental item!  I can't imagine what it is going to be like when I'm out of useless stuff to give away!  Good thing I have an attic full of crap.........

Item 46: Old, Cheap Frames

Back again with a post on quality. 

As part of my living room redo, I decided that it was finally time to get some of my pictures printed.  When I'm not teaching, I'm a photographer.  And while I've had a lot of my pictures printed by other people, I've never actually printed anything that I've shot.  So I bit the bullet and did it.  All I can say is WOW! 

In order to make room for these pictures though I had to get rid of my crappy dollar store frames.  They sucked.  A lot.  Half of them were taped together just to keep from falling apart!  They did their job in my first living room.  But, it's time for quality.  

Dollar store falling apart frames!

Thankfully, we have Ikea.  Oh boy do we have Ikea.  And Target too.  So I upgraded.  New frames.  Real frames.  None of this plastic made to look like wood!  And glass - real glass!  And my images look amazing!  AMAZING! I absolutely love them!

Ikea and Target finds!

 So I'm saying goodbye to the cheap crap that was on my walls - for a better looking, higher quality fancy schmancy gallery of my images!

Adios cheap crap!

Oh and happy Valentime's Day!  Yeah. Happy, happy.

Item 45: Makeup Brushes

So I never really understood the quality over quantity debate.  I always wanted quantity. Heck why buy one thing when you can get five things for the same price.

Now, I've had a change of heart.  Quality over quantity.

Today I am giving away theses less than fabulous cheap makeup brushes.  And some really old pore minimizer.  So every since I got schooled at Sephora, I have been using better brushes to apply my makeup.  It truly is one of those things in the world that quality does matter.  Sure there are times when cheap works just as well as the expensive brand, but I think after trying both, that quality takes the cake here.

To my makeup brushes - adieu! I hope you find a good home.  Since you've never been out of the drawer, I wish luck in the light of day!

Rachel

Items 41-44: World's Biggest Slacker!

Sigh. The living room room project is still ongoing - mostly the putting things back where they belong phase.  I have so much crap that i need to get rid of but today I found myself scrounging for things to give away.  I have so much stuff that I shouldn't struggle to get rid of it!  Of course I haven't even begun to tackle the garage yet! I'm sure I'll be able to get rid of a ton of stuff if I go up there!  But it's a whopping 25 degrees out and I don't think that I'll be going up there today, blog or no blog!

So today I am giving away odds and ends - lots of little things that I found lying around.

Nothing special, nothing fancy - just random crap that has been taking up space in my house and keeping out the things that I want in my life.  Who really needs stuff?  I mean really?  This crap has just been sucking in the negative energy and it's time to give it the boot.  I need love and happiness in my life - not crap, not mistrust, not negative.  Life is too short for these things.

So I am starting today - to purge what I don't need, to ask forgiveness from the ones that I love, to forgive myself and to continue to make room, positive happy space in my life.

And that is all for Sunday!

xoxo
Rachel

Items 33-40: More Schtuff

So I have been really busy trying to get my life back together - both physically (wow does my living room look different!) and emotionally (you never know when life is going to t-bone you unexpectedly).  I have been steadily giving things away, I just haven't gotten a chance to blog about it!

So here they are, part of that pile that I have been steadily giving away:

A disturbing yet good book I've already read...

A tacky vase from the dollar store....

Another book I doubt I'll ever read...  

A duplicate (water damaged) copy of a really great book...

An off-white, fly specked lamp shade...

The world's tackiest hallway lamp and it's equally tacky glass lamp shade....

The awesome pair of pants I ripped getting into my car last night (ugh I loved those comfy pants!)...

My disorganized bookshelves and awful dollar store black frames (although they have been replaced with the bookshelves and frames above - I LOVE MY IKEA HEMNES BOOKSHELVES)....

It certainly is getting more challenging to mindfully get rid of items in my house! I still have tons of crap I'm not using though so I should be able to get rid of a big chunk soon.  It truly amazes me how much stuff I've acquired in the 6 years that I have been in this house!  It's multiplied like gremlins!  And a lot of it is crap - stuff I've vowed to fix that is still broken, stuff I have never bothered to use, stuff that I will probably never use.  Getting rid of this baggage is liberating!  I just need to pace myself so that I can make it to the end of the year!!!!

Goodbye schtuff!

Item #: 33-40

Item: Schtuff

Gone to: Thrift store and garbage

Items 26-32: Oops! A bunch of stuff (Rachel)

So I got a little busy working on my living room! While it was beneficial for my purging project, it made it difficult to get any blogging done!  Time to catch up...

So what is in the giveaway pile today? 

A tripod bag, a sparkly garland, old magazines, an extra copy of Siddhartha, a brown pea coat and two items that aren't pictured: three white bookshelves and a big honking couch!

It's so nice to make space in my life.  I need to clean out.  I need to make room.  I need to breathe.  You can't welcome good in your life when you harbor the bad.  This is true in so many ways.  Trust is hard to come by when you can't let go of the things that are weighing you down.

Time to let the heavy burdens go and start again.  Sounds a little like a Florence and the Machine song! Shake it out.............

That's all for tonight! I'm too pooped to type more!

Items 21-25: More Stuff From My Closet (Rachel)

I'm so glad that I reserved the right to do multiple things at one time! I took all of these pictures this weekend - but I never got around to actually blogging about them.  Honestly, I'm just proud that I'm still doing this.

It's amazing how much stuff that we have that sits around every day that we just need to let go of. Cleaning out my linen closet, I realized just how ratty some of the things that I've been holding on to have become and I just kept asking myself why?  What else am I holding onto like that?

The answer to that question is, of course, a little more complicated than ratty old sheets.  But certainly, cleaning out this closet has opened the door to exploration.  And that is the true goal of this project.  Stop hiding behind my stuff, stop hiding behind my body, stop hiding full stop.  I need to breathe a little life into my life.  Set some better intentions for myself and live with more purpose.

And start saying goodbye to things that aren't serving me.

I'm not going to blog about these things individually - really they aren't that complicated.  They are just crap from my linen closet.

Goodbye well used things!

Rachel

ps. sorry for the inappropriate inclusion in the picture - I'm donating that too!

Item #: 21-25
Items: Various Linens/Bedding
Gone to: Thrift Store, Garbage